[Jaguarr40]

I'm a new BB owner with the Torch. Been around and seen them for years but was steadfastly Windows Mobile until Windows Phone 7.

I finally switched to BB not because of any shortcomings I saw in WP7 OS but simply because I didn't like the form factor of the available phones. Really that simple. No need for me to hate on Microsoft or WP7. I didn't want a ginormous touch screen phone or a horizontal slider. Everything else would have been compelling enough for me to stay had there been a phone the size of the Torch with a sliding portrait qwerty. There wasn't that option so I switched.

I think RIM will be around for awhile. I think it's marketing that has convinced us we need to have the fancy new whatever running at a gajillion hertz and a 40 inch screen with an app to cut your toenails for you.

I'm happy I switched to BB after all of this time. It's tweakable, stable, an improvement over my old WM phone and it's the coolest slider I've seen/used. As long as RIM continues to make devices in the form factor I want, I'll be with them until the end.

Dead? I don't think so. They make a product that appeals to a vast number of people. What does (or should it) matter to me how high is their market share as long as they are making a product that I find compelling?

You make valid points for what works for "YOU" being the operative word.

Most of us that have been with RIM for many years have not seen the same change you have with Torch being the newest and most different to come out in some time and this is where lies the frustration with many of us.

You enjoy your new Torch and best of luck to you. Let us know if you need anything or help with your new BB.

[valhalla1759]

@ Jaguaar40

Sure you can although I enjoy your input as well.

I must say I'm impressed with this thread (not bragging) and the discussion and points that have been introduced. After reading my original post a few times I must say I probably went a little overboard and could have worded a few things better. Overall I think this has been a great discussion so far and I can't stay away from it.

Paladinleeds had a great point with the iPhone revolutionizing the smartphone and with android surpassing it. The problem for us BB users is waiting see when RIM will embrace it and join the ride. And for us long term users we feel we've waited long enough...

I don't believe RIM will just give up and fold....but I do think that they had the crown taken from them and really don't seem interested in getting it back. And I think most will agree RIM IS slacking in quite a few ways.

I may be leaving my Blackberry in a month, but I'll never forget the great service it provided me over the years.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[ttz]

This is exactly the reason I think I'll like Android. I enjoy, and use, many Google products. Mail, Search, Talk, Voice, Maps, Latitude, Sync, Buzz. I haven't tried the TP yet. But if you like their products and services you'd probably like their OSs as well. That's my thinking as I'm making the switch. Makes sense to me.

I don't understand folks who automatically hate anything that is popular. It's like they are making such an effort to be "special" or "different." Sometimes things are popular because they are good products. Not always, but that's how the market works. People buy what they like and the company makes money and more products and/or improves existing ones.

Hold on a sec. Liking a manufacturer of a product doesn't automatically make me excited about the same manufacturer's products in other areas. I would probably consider Samsung as a good television set maker but I probably wouldn't buy a Samsung car, if one existed. Something more relevant to Information technology? Lenovo Thinkpad I'd buy one tomorrow, a Lenovo phone not so sure. The Playbook approach suits me fine: a 'small' phone to do what a phone is supposed to do, such as making and receiving calls, email, bbm and a decent browser if I need to quickly check out a site, a few apps like instant messengers and the likes. For the more intensive stuff (videos on youtube, long browsing sessions, the full facebook, multimedia, the lot) the Playbook acts as an 'extender' of your existing BB while still being portable enough not to require a case of its own. If I'm out for a night on the drink, I don't need to bring the PB with me, my 9700 does all I could possibly need, while if I'm on an overnight and don't want to lug around heavy stuff, PB in the coat's pocket and away we go. Not everyone wants everything on a single device. Plus I like the idea of supporting RIM and QNX on phones by buying the PB, rather than the Google mono-culture that it's forming of late on the Internet. It boils down to personal preference at the end of the day, and I think the PB will be a huge hit with current RIM customers, especially the ones locked on their BB due to work or long contracts with their carrier. Last thing: it's a Blackberry. I like the image a Blackberry projects (again, personal choice). BB is instantly recognizable and synonymous with pro stuff. I left it on my colleague's desk yesterday and he reminded me "hey, you left your Blackberry on my desk!". I can't picture the same guy telling me "you left your h-tee-cee on the desk". There are phones, and there's Blackberry. In the business I'm in, there IS a difference.

[13echo4]

Well I don't know who said this but whoever it was has not gone into the app stores for these phone and as I dont mind saying it even the iphone app store on itunes. There are so many free and paid productivity apps for business it is rediculous and I know because I have many of them on my Ipod Touch and they are very useful.

Such as? What can your ipod touch do that my BB 8310 can't do? Wait don't answer that. It can be navagated by touch and surf the web with 3g data transfer. Aight then let's be fair. What can your ipod touch do that my 9800 can't? There is nothing you can do I can't. Unless you want to talk about a game coded just for the ios. Its not like the ps3 being the only game platform able to play bluray. So you have coders tripleing up on the same apps. How many calulaters. Do you need really. Oh how I know about the apps that itunes has. My wife started out with a 2g and has moved thru the ranks with a 3g 8gb 3g 16gb 3gs 16 gb now i4 16gb. I'm telling ya the place is covered up with useless crap. I spend my weekends remove that junk from her phone. I find it so amusing the aplle lovers that troll thru the rim realms. The world changing i4 on has 2 specs that I van see over my torch. 1ghz cpu and high res screen. My wife and I sit side by side and run apps just to see how much faster she is. No it isn't faster.. Right out the box my torch has the bulk of what I use on the base of its platform. Matter of fact it sorta bothers me that I have to spend about an hour deleteing stupid apps of my torch. There's photo editing app etc etc on the torch I don't want to use. If you have a torch then you know what I mean. I had to do the same thing with my 9700 and 8520. Now let's start talking about removing apps and pictures and video files. Music clips off your super sonic apple devices away from your pc or macs. Yea ;-{. So what the highest capasity of the i4 32gb? I haven't seen that yet so I don't know. Right now my torch is limited to what I can find which would be 36gbs. 32gb card and 4 on board. But if I understand it the os6 isn't limited. Now I don't strickly believe that. But I think it can read across what ever you can put into it in the near futur. That high res screen. Again side by side same movie on my wifes i4 and my torch looks just as good. Although the i4's bigger screen is nicer for this. Duh right?

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[alby4ever]

Such as? What can your ipod touch do that my BB 8310 can't do? Wait don't answer that. It can be navagated by touch and surf the web with 3g data transfer. Aight then let's be fair. What can your ipod touch do that my 9800 can't? There is nothing you can do I can't. Unless you want to talk about a game coded just for the ios. Its not like the ps3 being the only game platform able to play bluray. So you have coders tripleing up on the same apps. How many calulaters. Do you need really. Oh how I know about the apps that itunes has. My wife started out with a 2g and has moved thru the ranks with a 3g 8gb 3g 16gb 3gs 16 gb now i4 16gb. I'm telling ya the place is covered up with useless crap. I spend my weekends remove that junk from her phone. I find it so amusing the aplle lovers that troll thru the rim realms. The world changing i4 on has 2 specs that I van see over my torch. 1ghz cpu and high res screen. My wife and I sit side by side and run apps just to see how much faster she is. No it isn't faster.. Right out the box my torch has the bulk of what I use on the base of its platform. Matter of fact it sorta bothers me that I have to spend about an hour deleteing stupid apps of my torch. There's photo editing app etc etc on the torch I don't want to use. If you have a torch then you know what I mean. I had to do the same thing with my 9700 and 8520. Now let's start talking about removing apps and pictures and video files. Music clips off your super sonic apple devices away from your pc or macs. Yea ;-{. So what the highest capasity of the i4 32gb? I haven't seen that yet so I don't know. Right now my torch is limited to what I can find which would be 36gbs. 32gb card and 4 on board. But if I understand it the os6 isn't limited. Now I don't strickly believe that. But I think it can read across what ever you can put into it in the near futur. That high res screen. Again side by side same movie on my wifes i4 and my torch looks just as good. Although the i4's bigger screen is nicer for this. Duh right?

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

The movie example is a pretty poor example because the movie resolution maxes out at that screen. Try looking at two webpages or two text side by side and tell me if you don't see a difference. If you don't, you're lying.

Either way, the most ignorant statement that keeps getting brought up is the number of useless apps for Android/iPhone. Gee there's this thing called "Categories" in each app store. Click on the business and productivity section and you'll find apps that make life for business users much better. And many of them you just won't find on a BB because the environment makes it a pain in the @$$ to code for.

A true paperless office is possible now thanks to the iPad (I've actually used it so I would know - see what happens when you talk about things AFTER you've really used them?). Musicians create music outside of a studio. Doctors can pull up a patient's history and scans without fumbling around. A business user can join an online conference with his coworkers even though he's a world away. Etc Etc Etc. And these things are only possible thanks to a strong third-party app ecosystem that's enabled by Android and iOS - not BB.

Out of the box a BB may be a bit more useful but not by much. Once apps come into play, the iPhone/Android is exponentially more powerful for any business user.

Obviously the growing influx of iPhone/Android users into the corporate environment back this up.

[lssanjose]

A device - now matter if it's Android, BlackBerry, iPhone, etc. is only as much a toy, or productivity device as the one using it.

[_StephenBB81]

The movie example is a pretty poor example because the movie resolution maxes out at that screen. Try looking at two webpages or two text side by side and tell me if you don't see a difference. If you don't, you're lying.

Either way, the most ignorant statement that keeps getting brought up is the number of useless apps for Android/iPhone. Gee there's this thing called "Categories" in each app store. Click on the business and productivity section and you'll find apps that make life for business users much better. And many of them you just won't find on a BB because the environment makes it a pain in the @$$ to code for.

A true paperless office is possible now thanks to the iPad (I've actually used it so I would know - see what happens when you talk about things AFTER you've really used them?). Musicians create music outside of a studio. Doctors can pull up a patient's history and scans without fumbling around. A business user can join an online conference with his coworkers even though he's a world away. Etc Etc Etc. And these things are only possible thanks to a strong third-party app ecosystem that's enabled by Android and iOS - not BB.

Out of the box a BB may be a bit more useful but not by much. Once apps come into play, the iPhone/Android is exponentially more powerful for any business user.

Obviously the growing influx of iPhone/Android users into the corporate environment back this up.

No I don't entirely disagree with you, I have to say I was involved in a completely paperless world in 2002 Everything running Windows, everyone had Audiovox Thera Handhelds, and desktops were at every machine, and in every office.

Apple just made the general public see that they can do it, and that your IT department can do it without a consultant, at double the price mind you if converting to Apple hardware, but still.

AND I am involved in global conferences with BB's and with MVS, BB's globally are connecting to the AT&T conference line without paying log distance charges.

and your android/iphones are not exponentially more powerful for ANY business user, for SOME business users probably, but my productivity would go down having to use something different, and at last check, BB was still the best at navigating large excel files with no checkerboarding during scrolling ( I'm leaving Win 7 Mobile out cause I am sure it is even better!)

[Shodan775]

I'm afraid that RIM is gonna go the way like the Palm. Nobody is saying, that palm pilots are bad..but surely they had their golden age in the early 2000's.

Sure, there are Palm PDA users today, but just go around and count how many people have it.

[_StephenBB81]

I'm afraid that RIM is gonna go the way like the Palm. Nobody is saying, that palm pilots are bad..but surely they had their golden age in the early 2000's.

Sure, there are Palm PDA users today, but just go around and count how many people have it.

Palm and RIM had very different business models,
Palm relied on a 3rd Part for their OS, said 3rd Party was failing them! (Microsoft)

Palms business focus was purely in North America,
Palm did not build Corporate infrastructure.

Also RIM has very solid financials even today with so many on these forums saying they are dying and going to go bankrupt they continue to have record profits AND record revenue.
So they are not the media darling anymore, it doesn't mean they are going anywhere.

[lssanjose]

deRussett, people tend to forget, before Jobs's return, Apple was as low as one could get in the mid to late 90s. If such a fate were to meet RIM in a similar fashion, I'm sure there's going to be a turning point, one way or another.

[kthhrrsn]

Valhalla - I can appreciate your post. In fact, as much as I love my BB S2, and most of the RIM devices that I've had before it, I find myself with phone envy quite often.

I agree with your sentiment, but I don't think a company the size and scope of RIM will give up its position easily. They still have the largest share of Smartphones globally (barely now, I concede). People wrote Apple off years ago when Microsoft seemed to be ruling the world w/Windows. Apple made a comeback w/the iPod. And I hope RIM will too.

TL;DR - First came the iPhone...I'm sure we all remember the day. An outstanding device when it first came...completely shook the world of cellphones. To deny the truth in that is to embrace ignorance. Clearly a threat had emerged to Blackberry....a large one at that. However even after all the ship jumpers blackberry held it's ground with it's loyal users and as a thank you they stepped up their game and gave us some pretty good devices. For the time being...

I agree that the iPhone shook the ground under RIM's feet. The iPhone is/was awesome. They took the touch interface to a new level. The problem I had with the iPhone, when it came out, was the long list of things that it didn't do that BlackBerry devices (and others) were doing for years. Some of them were abosolute deal breakers. For instance, no multi-tasking! Copy & paste. Support for Enterprise email, calendar, etc. They've since closed many of the gaps, but not perfectly (and still not syncing of the notes or memo...). The Interface is absolutely flawless in its execution. Beautiful. It's great for multimedia. BlackBerry is still better for email, calendar, etc...real work.

Now I'll admit I own an iPad and I love it, it's a fantastic device. Is it the best out right now? I think so. Can someone make a better one? I believe someone can. However I don't believe that someone is RIM....the playbook just screams half baked idea being rushed out...wonder if they got the battery problem fixed.

I too now own an iPad (since Christmas). I LOVE the device- primarily because of all of the available apps. Browsing, reading the news, streaming Netflix, watching movies, etc. are quite enjoyable on it! But I don't think it's the best tablet on the market. I wish my wife bought me the Samsung Galaxy Tablet (or held out for the PlayBook). I'll admit that my issues with the iPad relate to the productivity apps (email, calendar, contacts). First, the email client. I HATE it! I don't understand why the "Inbox" occupies such a small sliver of space on the left, while the message preview takes up the remaining 85% of the screen! And you can't turn off the mail preview to show your inbox in full screen! It gets worse when you use the iPad in portrait mode. In that case, the inbox isn't there- unless you click the "Inbox" button and it pops up, again as a sliver, above a portion of the opened message. Why did Apple treat the inbox as an afterthought? I don't like previewing email. I have it turned off in Outlook as well! When I want to open an email, I'll open it! And I can't search my inbox? Pulling up all emails w/a specific subject (threading) is a start, but I frequently pull up all emails from a specific sender in my BB, simply by holding my finger over their name!! AWESOME!

Apple's Calendar app SUCKS!! First of all, when creating appointments, it doesn't read the calendar to give a warning that the appointment may conflict with something already in the calendar. Both BB's calendar and Outlook's calendar support that. Also, it doesn't allow you to look up availability of others who are part of the meeting. Again, both BB and Outlook support this. There's no way to schedule a meeting with colleagues through the iPad and ensure that it's an available time for all. It's just not supported. Now for the discovery that really takes the cake. Ready for it? Ok...When reminders pop up in the iPad, THERE'S NO WAY TO SNOOZE THEM! IT's SIMPLY NOT SUPPORTED! Why on EARTH would they make a calendar app that doesn't support snooze! That's the most basic of calendar functionality! The interface is beautiful, but pretty useless. I still need to manage my calendar through Outlook or through my BlackBerry. Last week, I was late to a meeting because I treid to use my iPad exclusively during the day...

My take on Apple vs. RIM is that they both have a niche. I had high hopes when I got the iPad for Christmas that I'd be able to leave the laptop behind for business trips. I'd perhaps even leave the BlackBerry behind! But after using it for a few weeks, I've come to the realization that BlackBerry's strength really is with the business user vs. the broader consumer market. RIM doesn't stack up on the consumer side (their media player isn't as nice as Apple's), but they KILL in productivity.

Oh, and Apple's "multi-tasking" is a joke compared to RIM's. Check it out for yourselves! It essentially closes apps & re-opens them where you left off. Bizarre.

It's more clear to me than ever that both companies come from very different positions of strength and things are blending. Apple's trying to get into Enterprise & RIM's trying to get into consumer. Use both products and it'll be apparent where each company started the race.

I don't dislike my iPad. In fact, I love the thing. It's barely left my side since Christmas. But it's not an Enterprise device by any stretch of the imagination. A casual user of BlackBerry would be fine making the switch. I believe they'd have to pry BlackBerry devices out of the heavy use, road-warrior type Enterprise users cold, dead hands. Unless Apple gets better w/the productivity aps.

Am I disappointed in RIM? YES! Why is it the HTC (HTC of all companies!) can come out with a 4G network phone w/WiFi hotspot, 8MP camera, front facing camera, 1GHZ hummingbird processor, Android OS, etc., etc. almost a year ago? Meanwhile, RIM doesn't have a single device w/a front facing camera. Not a single device that supports personal hotspots. Not a single device that really pushes the envelope and has a feature that's not yet widely available on other devices. They need to push the limits. Have a spec sheet that blows the competitors out of the water for once in a decade! And OS6 wasn't all that impressive.

I think they're a company under pressure. I think they'll eventually find their footing, but it's taking longer than most loyal BlackBerryists would have liked. You've got to admit that their phones look sexier now, and have greater mass appeal, then they did 5 or 6 years ago. Remember that ugly a$* 7100g?? I had one of those!

[_StephenBB81]

deRussett, people tend to forget, before Jobs's return, Apple was as low as one could get in the mid to late 90s. If such a fate were to meet RIM in a similar fashion, I'm sure there's going to be a turning point, one way or another.

Apples Board of directors were completely stupid when they Booted Steve Jobs, Apple IS Steve Jobs.

Unfortunately RIM IS very much Mike and Jim, neither is overly dynamic, neither is flashy, but both are very very smart men, and I don't think for a second they are sitting with their heads in the sand, they've built RIM from a nothing of a notification company to a super power in the mobile communications space, in North America they might not be THE power, but the are still a power, and still the target that people cheer against as the Goliath

[Shodan775]

Apples Board of directors were completely stupid when they Booted Steve Jobs, Apple IS Steve Jobs.

Unfortunately RIM IS very much Mike and Jim, neither is overly dynamic, neither is flashy, but both are very very smart men, and I don't think for a second they are sitting with their heads in the sand, they've built RIM from a nothing of a notification company to a super power in the mobile communications space, in North America they might not be THE power, but the are still a power, and still the target that people cheer against as the Goliath

In that sense, RIM could go down just like Apple did in the late 90s with Steve Jobs on board or not.

Not to mention you mention in your other post, that Palm relied on a 3rd party support (Microsoft). So what is RIM doing when their next step is getting QNX for the BBs?

[TheScionicMan]

Whatever info Google gets from all those Android users must be very lucrative to them to keep churning out a free product. Better hope it stays lucrative, cuz if they ever pull the plug, like they did with Buzz, Wave, etc., it would be really interesting to see what these other companies would do for an OS...

[TheScionicMan]

Not to mention you mention in your other post, that Palm relied on a 3rd party support (Microsoft). So what is RIM doing when their next step is getting QNX for the BBs?

They bought QNX, no longer a 3rd party situation.

[_StephenBB81]

In that sense, RIM could go down just like Apple did in the late 90s with Steve Jobs on board or not.

Not to mention you mention in your other post, that Palm relied on a 3rd party support (Microsoft). So what is RIM doing when their next step is getting QNX for the BBs?

RIM did it right, they purchased the OS they wanted, they maintain control, and can change it as needed, Palm did not have this power with Microsoft.


In addition RIM is still a growing and profitable company, during the NO JOBS years at apple they couldn't say the same, and Palm as well was not in the position of growing in other markets as their first market started to shrink.

[_StephenBB81]

Whatever info Google gets from all those Android users must be very lucrative to them to keep churning out a free product. Better hope it stays lucrative, cuz if they ever pull the plug, like they did with Buzz, Wave, etc., it would be really interesting to see what these other companies would do for an OS...

Windows Phone 7!

They already are making phones with Both.
I can't wait for one of the Manufacturers to make the EXACT same hardware phone and shape but with either Android or Windows Phone 7!
like Palm did when they had their own OS and Windows Mobile eventually Windows took them all

[alby4ever]

Apples Board of directors were completely stupid when they Booted Steve Jobs, Apple IS Steve Jobs.

Unfortunately RIM IS very much Mike and Jim, neither is overly dynamic, neither is flashy, but both are very very smart men, and I don't think for a second they are sitting with their heads in the sand, they've built RIM from a nothing of a notification company to a super power in the mobile communications space, in North America they might not be THE power, but the are still a power, and still the target that people cheer against as the Goliath

Actually (someone can correct me if this came from Steve Jobs himself or a historian), being kicked out of Apple was the best thing to ever happen to both Apple and Steve Jobs. Steve was forced to change some of his ways and work on a next-gen OS in NEXT after he was booted. Then he came back and led Apple. The rest is history.

[valhalla1759]

Valhalla - I can appreciate your post. In fact, as much as I love my BB S2, and most of the RIM devices that I've had before it, I find myself with phone envy quite often.

I agree with your sentiment, but I don't think a company the size and scope of RIM will give up its position easily. They still have the largest share of Smartphones globally (barely now, I concede). People wrote Apple off years ago when Microsoft seemed to be ruling the world w/Windows. Apple made a comeback w/the iPod. And I hope RIM will too.



I agree that the iPhone shook the ground under RIM's feet. The iPhone is/was awesome. They took the touch interface to a new level. The problem I had with the iPhone, when it came out, was the long list of things that it didn't do that BlackBerry devices (and others) were doing for years. Some of them were abosolute deal breakers. For instance, no multi-tasking! Copy & paste. Support for Enterprise email, calendar, etc. They've since closed many of the gaps, but not perfectly (and still not syncing of the notes or memo...). The Interface is absolutely flawless in its execution. Beautiful. It's great for multimedia. BlackBerry is still better for email, calendar, etc...real work.



I too now own an iPad (since Christmas). I LOVE the device- primarily because of all of the available apps. Browsing, reading the news, streaming Netflix, watching movies, etc. are quite enjoyable on it! But I don't think it's the best tablet on the market. I wish my wife bought me the Samsung Galaxy Tablet (or held out for the PlayBook). I'll admit that my issues with the iPad relate to the productivity apps (email, calendar, contacts). First, the email client. I HATE it! I don't understand why the "Inbox" occupies such a small sliver of space on the left, while the message preview takes up the remaining 85% of the screen! And you can't turn off the mail preview to show your inbox in full screen! It gets worse when you use the iPad in portrait mode. In that case, the inbox isn't there- unless you click the "Inbox" button and it pops up, again as a sliver, above a portion of the opened message. Why did Apple treat the inbox as an afterthought? I don't like previewing email. I have it turned off in Outlook as well! When I want to open an email, I'll open it! And I can't search my inbox? Pulling up all emails w/a specific subject (threading) is a start, but I frequently pull up all emails from a specific sender in my BB, simply by holding my finger over their name!! AWESOME!

Apple's Calendar app SUCKS!! First of all, when creating appointments, it doesn't read the calendar to give a warning that the appointment may conflict with something already in the calendar. Both BB's calendar and Outlook's calendar support that. Also, it doesn't allow you to look up availability of others who are part of the meeting. Again, both BB and Outlook support this. There's no way to schedule a meeting with colleagues through the iPad and ensure that it's an available time for all. It's just not supported. Now for the discovery that really takes the cake. Ready for it? Ok...When reminders pop up in the iPad, THERE'S NO WAY TO SNOOZE THEM! IT's SIMPLY NOT SUPPORTED! Why on EARTH would they make a calendar app that doesn't support snooze! That's the most basic of calendar functionality! The interface is beautiful, but pretty useless. I still need to manage my calendar through Outlook or through my BlackBerry. Last week, I was late to a meeting because I treid to use my iPad exclusively during the day...

My take on Apple vs. RIM is that they both have a niche. I had high hopes when I got the iPad for Christmas that I'd be able to leave the laptop behind for business trips. I'd perhaps even leave the BlackBerry behind! But after using it for a few weeks, I've come to the realization that BlackBerry's strength really is with the business user vs. the broader consumer market. RIM doesn't stack up on the consumer side (their media player isn't as nice as Apple's), but they KILL in productivity.

Oh, and Apple's "multi-tasking" is a joke compared to RIM's. Check it out for yourselves! It essentially closes apps & re-opens them where you left off. Bizarre.

It's more clear to me than ever that both companies come from very different positions of strength and things are blending. Apple's trying to get into Enterprise & RIM's trying to get into consumer. Use both products and it'll be apparent where each company started the race.

I don't dislike my iPad. In fact, I love the thing. It's barely left my side since Christmas. But it's not an Enterprise device by any stretch of the imagination. A casual user of BlackBerry would be fine making the switch. I believe they'd have to pry BlackBerry devices out of the heavy use, road-warrior type Enterprise users cold, dead hands. Unless Apple gets better w/the productivity aps.

Am I disappointed in RIM? YES! Why is it the HTC (HTC of all companies!) can come out with a 4G network phone w/WiFi hotspot, 8MP camera, front facing camera, 1GHZ hummingbird processor, Android OS, etc., etc. almost a year ago? Meanwhile, RIM doesn't have a single device w/a front facing camera. Not a single device that supports personal hotspots. Not a single device that really pushes the envelope and has a feature that's not yet widely available on other devices. They need to push the limits. Have a spec sheet that blows the competitors out of the water for once in a decade! And OS6 wasn't all that impressive.

I think they're a company under pressure. I think they'll eventually find their footing, but it's taking longer than most loyal BlackBerryists would have liked. You've got to admit that their phones look sexier now, and have greater mass appeal, then they did 5 or 6 years ago. Remember that ugly a$* 7100g?? I had one of those!

Great post! I enjoyed reading that.

I agree with many of your points.

I too gave the iPad a test drive on a business trip not too long ago and while it was ok, I found myself looking for my laptop far too much. But for at home and out-and-about use it's pretty fantastic.

There is no question that RIM is under pressure. Unfortunately it just seems that we are all still waiting to see how they respond to it...

[Shodan775]

Windows Phone 7!

They already are making phones with Both.
I can't wait for one of the Manufacturers to make the EXACT same hardware phone and shape but with either Android or Windows Phone 7!
like Palm did when they had their own OS and Windows Mobile eventually Windows took them all

If you ask me, I think microsoft has its own problems right now or will have even more with the increasing competition from google and apple (and linux too). I'm talking about the Operating system on computers, not phones. The Bill Gates empire is sort of crumbling lately(thank God). l

[_StephenBB81]

Actually (someone can correct me if this came from Steve Jobs himself or a historian), being kicked out of Apple was the best thing to ever happen to both Apple and Steve Jobs. Steve was forced to change some of his ways and work on a next-gen OS in NEXT after he was booted. Then he came back and led Apple. The rest is history.

This is something to debate.

Would Jobs never have developed NEXT if he didn't leave Apple? booting Jobs did nothing for Apple, it was great for Jobs leaving Apple and refocusing his ideas, and eventually great for Apple because they could buy out Jobs and get him back at the helm.

[13echo4]

if you don't see a difference. If you don't, you're lying.

Either way, the most ignorant statement that keeps getting brought up is the number of useless apps for Android/iPhone. Gee there's this thing called "Categories" in each app store.
(I've actually used it so I would know - see what happens when you talk about things AFTER you've really used them?).

In your post are you trying to tell me something you can do on your iphone that I can't on my BB? If you did I missed it.
No I'm not lying when I say that web pages or txt doesn't look better on the iphone. When was txt clients coded to take advantage of res.? The movie is a good example because the movie was compressed by bitrate and formatted at a certain resolution. The i4s resolution higher than the torchs so if the movie maxed out the i4s res. Then it should have looked better than the torch.
I wssnt stabbing at the i4 for any lack of apps being on it out of the box. My point is my BB comes loaded with more than I'm going to use. My daughter and mother in law have the ipad. I use it more than I care to. So I do talk about things that I actually have used. Do you think your the only one that has a paper less office? By no means. Both of my offices is paper less and I don't have the first apple device used. I have a pc in both offices. Even though I have a printer in both I never ever use them to print. 1 is for scanning and the other is for printing labels on my dvd backups. All software ran on windows boxes. Apple has not revolutionized the office. There's more microsoft ran offices than apple.
Really? At itunes apps are separated in categories. Dang why didn't Rim think of that. See at BB app world you have to wade through all sorts of stuff to get to what you want. Oh yea I can be sarcastic too. Its plain as day that there's a bunch of useless apps thrown at iphones and droids cause that crowd demand it. Why in the world do you need 700 calculators? What's ignorant is all the useless stuff that's coded for these devices. Ie my wife and daughter install a finger print password locking app. My son at 4 yrs old figured out by himself learned if he swiped his finger at an angle it will unlock the phone.
Again you failed to prove that your device can do something my device can't. Of course you'll come back with something else meaningless to divert the truth of the matter. The rest of the commutation world is just now catching up. But the need fancy whistles to sell the device.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[_StephenBB81]

If you ask me, I think microsoft has its own problems right now or will have even more with the increasing competition from google and apple (and linux too). I'm talking about the Operating system on computers, not phones. The Bill Gates empire is sort of crumbling lately(thank God). l

OH there is NO doubt Microsoft is in trouble on the Server side, and Desktop side of things. Microsoft really needs to find a way to solidify it's windows environment, They still have by far the best office application, and the best Online Cloud solution, problem is there are not any sexy hardware manufacturers. the Notebook computer market is now at the pricepoint that it needs advertising like the mobile phone Market. If microsoft doesn't partner up with Hardware makers, and hardware makers don't work with them Linux and some form of Android/Chrome OS will really heavily enter the Notebook market

[13echo4]

Am I disappointed in RIM? YES! Why is it the HTC (HTC of all companies!) can come out with a 4G network phone w/WiFi hotspot, 8MP camera, front facing camera, 1GHZ hummingbird processor, Android OS, etc., etc. almost a year ago? Meanwhile, RIM doesn't have a single device w/a front facing camera. Not a single device that supports personal hotspots. Not a single device that really pushes the envelope and has a feature that's not yet widely available on other devices. They need to push the limits. Have a spec sheet that blows the competitors out of the water for once in a decade! And OS6 wasn't all that impressive.

Do you think Rim can't do these things? I'm think they can. Video phone right now is just starting to get somewhere its still so young. Why rush the market with a device that can't take full advantage? Remember the base of the function has to be commutation. I don't think it'll be long before rim has a stable hotspot. You've be enable to tether for a while and there's been an app that you van ftp over wifi for bb also. I don't think connecting multiple devices to the network with my BB does anything for me. Its clear that Rim has things up its sleeve and it's going to be cook to see how it all plays out. I don't see apple or droid pushing Rim out of business. BB are to good at what they do. For yall that don't know. They simply work.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[13echo4]

OH there is NO doubt Microsoft is in trouble on the Server side, and Desktop side of things. Microsoft really needs to find a way to solidify it's windows environment, They still have by far the best office application, and the best Online Cloud solution, problem is there are not any sexy hardware manufacturers. the Notebook computer market is now at the pricepoint that it needs advertising like the mobile phone Market. If microsoft doesn't partner up with Hardware makers, and hardware makers don't work with them Linux and some form of Android/Chrome OS will really heavily enter the Notebook market

I can see android/chrome notebooks. Wither they dethrone microsoft I don't know. We'll have to see. Microsoft is worth to much money as it is. Its not it going to hurt if the doors shut. What I think with the ability of the new oses on the market for the mobile machines it'll microsoft honest and crank up the creativity a notch or 2. I don't see apple making any more ground in the laptop/notebook scene. It seems that windows7 still has a strong following in the netbooks. I have a dell insp. 10 and was at end wither to wait for the abunto or go ahead wirh win7. I'm glad I got the win7.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com